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RESOLUTION NO. 5147 <br /> <br /> <br />A RESOLUTION OPPOSING EXTENSION OF HARMFUL TRADE POLICIES. <br /> <br /> <br /> The City Council of the City of Eugene finds that: <br /> <br />A. <br /> U.S. trade deals for the past 25 years have been disproportionately corporate- <br />driven, incorporating rules that skew benefits to economic elites while requiring working families <br />to bear the brunt of such policies. <br /> <br />B. <br /> The growing trade deficits, driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement <br />(NAFTA)S.-Korea Free Trade <br />Agreement, have displaced 700,000 jobs and 3.2 million jobs, and 75,000 jobs respectively. <br /> <br />C. <br /> U.S. employment in manufacturing dropped by 5 million from 2000 to 2015. <br /> <br />D. <br /> Poorly constructed trade deals, such as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), stand <br />to increase the City of Eugene poverty rate, currently at 24.1%, requiring an increased <br />expenditure of limited public funds to assist families in crisis. <br /> <br />E. <br /> Jobs lost due to shortsighted trade deals devastate families and entire <br />communities and can permanently reduce lifetime earnings for hundreds of thousands of workers. <br /> <br />F. <br /> The long decline of the American manufacturing baseexacerbated by bad <br />trade policies that reward outsourcinghas undermined our economic security and poses a <br />direct threat to our national security. <br /> <br />G. <br /> The offshoring of manufacturing and service jobs deprives local and state <br />governments of sorely needed revenues, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of public <br />servants as well as construction workers whose jobs depend upon infrastructure building, repair <br />and maintenance. <br /> <br />H. <br /> Under NAFTA-style trade rules, the U.S. annual trade deficit has increased <br />dramatically from 70 billion in 1993, the year before NAFTA went into effect, to more than $508 <br />billion in 2014. <br /> <br />I. <br /> The disproportionate voice of powerful global corporations in the formation of <br />threatens democracy. <br /> <br />J. <br /> NAFTA and all but two of the U.S. trade deals that followed it include special <br />-to-ISDS, which <br />allow foreign firms to bypass state and federal courts to challenge state and local laws, <br />regulations, and administrative and judicial decisions in international tribunals. <br /> <br />K. <br /> The TPP treaty currently being considered by Congress is likely to include <br />provisions locking in monopoly protections for expensive specialty drugs called biologics and <br />limit spending on drugs, potentially increasing drug costs for <br />the government and all Americans. <br />Resolution - Page 1 of 3 <br />